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No Name Folder

As a secondary teacher, it is no secret that students forget to write their names on their projects and papers. (This has become less of an issue with digital submissions.) As a young teacher, I witnessed a genius tactic for dealing with all those lost souls: the "no name" folder.

Photo by Wahid Khene on Unsplash



On my bulletin board, I stapled a file folder with the large label "No Name." Papers were placed in the folder with a label of when it was received and the period, if possible. (I had separate turn-in spots for each class.) When students and parents would ask where they could look, I had one spot!

Here are some pro-tips:
  • Do not grade an item until the name has been assigned. This is for two reasons: students will not try to claim an assignment that was not theirs for a good grade. Secondly, it provides privacy to the student who forgot to write their name.
  • Circle the name spot so if there is a question on why something was late being graded, you can reference that there was originally no name.
  • Choose to believe in students. When they say they handed something in and it was marked missing, ask them to double-check the folder. I used this tactic when parents would email me, too.

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